The End
by justsomeboy
Summary: written before the end of OOO  How the story was assumed to end. Eiji/Ankh, if you read it that way.


a/n - before i watched the final episodes of kamen rider OOO, this was how i saw it ending. funny, that it sort of ended this way, regardless.

The overwhelming feeling of the violet medals sinking into his chest – into his very being – almost destroyed him, and Shingo along with him. It was even more intoxicating than taking Kazaris' medals into their body. They stole their breath, crushed their heart, froze their blood in their veins, and after a moment, Shingo was rejected – dropped to the ground while the ghost of his body that Ankh had stolen stayed in the air – trembling finely as he was assimilated into the being that would destroy everything, and he felt fear.

Greeeds did not feel fear. They were a collection of medals, nothing more – it had become clear to him that he was more than a Greeed over the past few days, being with them – with Mezuru, Gameru, Uva and even Maki. The doctor had told Ankh that he had assimilated to being human more than expected; and for a moment, hanging there in the air, he thought about his experiences with humanity.

Gotou, the new Birth. Chiyoko, that crazy woman who tried so hard to make him smile; Satonaka, Date Akira, and everyone they'd met along the way… Ice pops, fighting Yummys, dealing with everything that came their way with success.

And of course, Hina. Sweet, naïve Hina. And Eiji…

Shingo was no longer a part of Ankh; his parasite had been torn from him and his body lay in the grass of the field where Ankh had chosen to undergo his transformation. But Shingo knew; he would always know what the others did not, as Ankh screamed and screamed and his wings erupted from his back only to be shred away by the force that was wrapping itself around him.

What Ankh wanted, more than anything, was to be human.

That was why he had kept Shingos' body for so long – to be able to taste, to see, smell touch and _feel… _Most powerful had been the sensations of touch and taste. Shingo knew that Ankh had always known touch as something half-there. Something that occurred, but didn't really happen because there was always a film between him and everyone else.

To be able to feel clothes… Skin. Hair and the wood of an ice-pop stick, to feel the force and pain when his hand had been planted against Eijis' axe when he'd gone berserk because of the violet medals… It had all brought him joy.

Shingo was the only one who would ever know, as Hina and Eiji dragged him away from Ankh to safety – he was the only one who would ever know, because Ankh had been afraid of it, just as much as he'd wanted it. It was why he had shoved Hina and Eiji away; it was why he'd decided to do this in the first place. Because he was afraid and he knew that there wasn't a person in the world who wouldn't let him destroy himself, if he wished it. Even the two who witnessed the transformation couldn't say that they hadn't wished it, more than once: that he would just disappear.

The battle was grueling.

But in the end, as Ankh laid in Eijis' arms, head tipped back, there was a small smile on his face. He'd gotten his wish. He would die, finally knowing what it was to be human, even though he'd only ever known the sensation in a stolen body. Hina and Eiji would be safe. …Especially Eiji.

He blinked up at him, breath wheezing. He could hear, distantly, that Eiji was speaking to him, but he couldn't make sense of the words. "Eiji…" He breathed, and even his own voice sounded far away. The young man stopped talking, but his lips trembled, and Ankh felt guilt for worrying him so much. "Eiji… I knew…" He had to give a tiny smile at the irony of it all. Eiji sobbed something above him, and he thought to himself that he'd never seen him cry like that before.

"I knew that you would stop me."

Eiji was silent, and Ankhs' right hand – his claws and rings – touched his cheek, left bloody little slices in the skin as a memento of the man that was fading away before Eijis' very eyes. The monstrous limb melted away into medals, and a warm, human hand cupped the wanderers' jaw for a minute before it slowly started to fall away. Eiji grabbed it tightly, nearly screaming now, but Ankh couldn't hear him. Everything was melting away…

He would never apologize for anything he had done – never, he had his pride as a Greeed – but if he could have, he would have chosen this moment, to apologize for hurting Eiji – for dragging him into this mess at all. He would have told him that he was so proud; he'd done so much better than Ankh had ever thought he would.

Even as the world went dark, there was a tiny smile on the humans' mouth; his body limp in Hino Eijis' arms.

_See you in the next world, Eiji._

And Hino Eiji – Kamen Rider OOO, a world-traveler and a doer of odd jobs and a lover of life with a dream so big that nothing could hold it back, held that dead body in his arms until Gotou, Shingo and Hina pried him away. They had to bury Ankh, they said – it was the least they could do.

Hours passed in a blur.

Eiji insisted on digging the grave himself. Kougami provided a coffin; deep, bloody red wood and lined with white silk. Hina had brought the red cloth that Ankh had always settled on when he roosted, and they laid him into the coffin; his skin was so pale, and his features were so hollow. Eiji couldn't keep from sobbing again, as everyone said their good-byes, and Hina handed Eiji the cloth.

"You should do it." She whispered. "You knew him best."

He looked down at the body – the body – of the Greeed that had changed his life so completely, and bent to press his cheek to blonde hair before pulling up the red cloth, covering his body as though he was doing nothing more than tucking him into bed.

There was a medal, in the mess of his hair beside his neck; Eiji picked it up and held it. Taka.

He dropped the medal into his pocket and drew the cloth over Ankhs' lifeless features; a face he was so used to seeing animated – with a smile or a sneer, an arrogant twist to his lips… And he slowly closed the coffin; it clicked shut with a finality that made Hina start to cry, as it was lowered into the ground.

Ankh was buried, and the headstone was a deep grey marble.

_Here lies Izumi Ankh._

_A Good Man._

_What piece of work is a man, how noble in reason,  
how infinite in faculties, in form and moving,  
how express and admirable in action, _

_how like an angel in apprehension,  
how like a god!_

Eiji laid a single, heart-red rose and two of the beautiful feathers from Ankhs' wings, tied to the stem, on the grave. His life would never be the same again, but it was for the best; and he bent to press his lips to the headstone.

_goodbye, ankh._

_goodbye._


End file.
